Maintaining weight

May 10 2012

Alexey Iorsh

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has had his hat in the political arena for almost 13 years now, during which time he has become not just a symbol of his country, but the personification of a certain type of politics. This is a product of an era of transition, both in Russia and in the world – a period when the political system of coordinates is in flux everywhere, traditional ideologies have been shaken, borders have become porous and blurred while new and puzzling dividing lines are emerging.